Page 77 - 2 November 2012

Ricky Ramirez with his parents, Hector and Silvia, and wife Alejandra.
Ricky Ramirez and his dad, Hector, who got him started in match racing. Alejandra, Ricky and Santiago Ramirez.
The most important thing Ricky Ramirez has learned as a jockey is that you never quit learning. “You’re not always the best; you’re never perfect. Mistakes happen. But to be successful, you can never quit learning,” he says.
The combination of his penchant for watching and taking advice from other jockeys, his natural talent, and his love for the sport has earned him more than $12.4 million in the past six years. Not too shabby for a 27-year-old from Odessa, Texas, who started out riding in match races.
Third GeneraTion
Ramirez grew up the youngest of four children on a little ranch in Odessa, where his father, Hector, kept match-race horses in the backyard. Ramirez’s grandfather in Mexico had taught Ramirez’s father about horses, and Ramirez’s father passed the knowledge along.
As a kid, Ramirez helped his dad with the horses, cleaning stalls and ponying the racehorses. When he was 12 years old, he started riding. Then, when Ramirez was 13, his dad got in a jam and needed a jockey. He asked Ricky to ride.
“It’s always been my dream to be a jockey,” Ramirez said, but caution—or fear—stepped in.
“I said to my dad, ‘What if I fall off?’” Ramirez remembered, “and my dad said, ‘You can do it, just hang on.’”
He did hang on, and he won that first match race. That win opened the door
to riding for some of his dad’s friends as well, and he continued riding match races through high school. After he graduated, he went to Ruidoso and got his first official jockey’s license.
“I wanted to be a professional jockey,” Ramirez said, “but I didn’t want to be away from home.” So he went back to Odessa and for about four years, he dabbled in both Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing on official and unofficial tracks.
“I went in and out of the racetrack,” he said. “I’d ride match races at home, and then I’d ride at Ruidoso or any racetrack someone wanted me to help out at, and then go home again.”
He eventually limited his riding to Quarter Horses. “I grew up in Quarter Horses and I decided to stick with them,” he said.
Fully CommiTTed
In 2006 Ramirez got in with trainer Harvey Baeza, riding all his horses at Ruidoso Downs. While with Baeza, Ramirez got to know Lubbock, Texas, trainer Trey Wood. Ramirez started helping Wood when he had time, and in the process, got to know Trey’s father, multiple graded stakes-winning trainer Blane Wood.
One day in El Paso, the Woods asked Ramirez if he’d go out to the family ranch in Lubbock, Texas, and help break some babies. “We asked him in the afternoon, and he was there that night,” said Trey. “He worked the babies and we’ve been together ever since.”
About that time, the Woods’ regular jockey, J.J. Gonzales, was getting ready to quit riding, so when Gonzales stepped down, Ramirez stepped up.
“I rode five or six horses for them in 2007, and the beginning of 2008 I got first call—riding all their horses,” Ramirez said. “That’s really when my career started growing. Nobody knew who Ricky Ramirez was until then.”
By November 2010, Ramirez and the Woods had qualified for quite a few
SPEEDHORSE, November 2, 2012 75
Courtesy Ricky Ramirez Courtesy Ricky Ramirez
Janey Stoody